


Before the Spider, Operation: the Superbowl and Code Names

by DestinyFreeReally



Series: The California Spider Assassination Squad + Prequels [4]
Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 18:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9455456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: a break from the angst in this universe, mostly. the story of how Logan Echolls became Playboy





	

  Veronica was squished between Logan and Wallace on their new sofa; her shoulder blade digging in Logan’s chest and her feet across Wallace’s lap. Weevil was propped up in the armchair across from the couch, a beer still in hands and his eyes still on the Superbowl- even if it’d been winding down since the halftime show.   
  
    There should’ve been something odd or unsettling about it; consciously, Veronica could look at the room of them, all killers, and understand that people like them, like her, maybe shouldn’t be allowed to have moments like this. But Logan’s fingers were draped over her chest, marking a spot where she’d almost been stabbed on a job last week, before shooting her attackers' fingers off, and there was the glaring duplicity of her life that Veronica was still trying to wrap her head around.   
  
    The dark cloud over everything, assassination projects and domesticity alike, was still Logan’s father, a ruthless bastard still trying to _assemble_ the dark avengers or whatever he wanted them to be. To Veronica’s surprise, both Wallace and Weevil seem willing, if hesitant, to join for their own reasons. There was a pitch of power involved, and money- more than each of them could bring in on their own. A bigger team, with bigger contracts, and bigger, high profile targets, who had probably bigger security details.   
  
    Through a series of phone conversations, and a few drop by’s from Lilly Kane, Veronica’s come to understand that they’ll need code names, field names, and there’s a feeling like none of them are really taking this too seriously, except for Aaron, of course. Silver Star, himself. Veronica could only roll her eyes so many times at the new moniker before her brain had to start referring to him as simply _SS._   
  
    “Have you guys thought about those nicknames?” Veronica said aloud, looking up at Logan and trying not to laugh at his lopsided, drunken smile down at her.   
  
    “You mean the code names? I’ve given it _all kinds_ of thought. You people are gonna be on walkie-talkies, speaking into your little head sets calling for Black Mamba or Dark Chocolate or _Papa Bear_ or something equally ridiculous. It’s a big reason I’m even doing this, gotta be honest.” Wallace couldn’t help but laugh. Murder was something he was born into, after his father was killed and his youngest brother was murdered by cops, it didn’t take long to realize there was only one way he was going to survive in the world. That didn’t mean he had to take _everything_ seriously. In a lot of ways, meeting Veronica helped that. After his mother died, Wallace spent a lot of years just learning- learning intel work mostly, and the way the rest of this ragtag group of hired guns checked their email, Wallace was almost looking forward to taking over the technological aspect of this outfit.   
  
    “You _know_ you’re like officially stuck with Papa Bear, right? That’s never gonna go away, I’m _only_ calling you that from now on, Papa Bear.” Logan laughed and saluted his beer with his right hand, the left still holding Veronica against him.   
  
   “Not me, one of you calls me papa _anything_ I’m shooting first, asking your dumbass names later.” Weevil shook his head. He hadn’t thought about it much, truthfully; the ridiculous code name facet to all of it. The way Veronica’s eyes turned down at the mention of _assembling_ gave Weevil his reservations, but he’s been sort of curious about what he’s exactly capable of for a long time. That’d been part of the problem with PCH. “I’m thinking _Biker_ ; you know the expression Keep It Simple, Stupid?” Weevil thumbed the label on his beer, laughing to himself. Code Name: Biker, certainly had all the hallmarks of simplicity, and there’d be no question they’d be talking about him.   
  
    “What about you, V?” Superbowl pretty much forgotten, Wallace munched a handful of popcorn and looked expectantly at the blonde. He hasn’t known Veronica or Logan long; meeting Veronica, she helped him out of a jam he hadn’t prepared for, and the bond kind of stuck. Unsure of what to make of Logan, Wallace mostly likes him even if he doesn’t really get the appeal; when he thinks about dating, falling in love even, he thinks about marrying a nice school teacher and leaving his guns at the door. Playing where they worked looked complicated to Wallace, even if they could make it look easy sometimes, too.   
  
    “I haven’t thought about it. I guess, I could still be _V._ You know, save all the paperwork and the Blonde Bombshell jokes.” Her hand found Logan’s against her, and she tangled their fingers, feeling more anchored to anything than she had in her entire life previously. It was sort of a filling feeling, being right where you felt like you ought to be. V would do, she thought. It’s what Lilly, Wallace, and Weevil already called her, what Logan called her in the field; there’s moments where she’s more comfortable being V than being Veronica, oddly enough.   
  
    “I’m still pulling for Bobcat.” Logan dropped a kiss on her forehead to a roll of Weevil’s eyes. Picking his nickname for her means something to him; she shrugs off his jokes of marriage and commitment, at least formally, but they’ve been living together for years, she kisses him with his morning breath, and now she was picking a name for herself that he’d picked for her first.   
  
    “In your dreams,” Veronica shook her head, and could half-believe he's had dreams like that. “What about you, Logan?” She looked up at him still, from her angle, and they all waited for his reply.   
  
    “Tell ‘em what you call me,” Logan prompted Veronica with a smirk, shaking his head in disapproval. One night, they’d been undercover on the Vegas strip, and she’d been blowing on the table’s dice all night waiting for their target to slip up. When another man playing craps with them had gotten handsy with Veronica, getting Logan to keep his cool and not blow their cover had become the new mission. _Relax, Playboy,_ she’d said in a voice just for him, and the nickname had been folded into part of their history. It’s a special word for them, one of their codes that means more than its bare syllables. A way for them to break cover just between the two of them, it drove Logan crazy every single time.   
  
    “Playboy.” With a smile, she tossed a cursory glance to Weevil and Wallace, and their reactions played typical to her. A lot of dramatic exasperation and eye rolling. “What’ll your dad think?” Veronica waited for a fresh smirk on Logan’s lips.   
  
    “I’m sure he’ll be proud, V. He’s my father, what else can I expect?” Laughing, running his hand along her jaw, in his mind Logan knew at some point this would all be a real, real thing. Taking orders again, letting go of some of the freedom they’d found almost on their own; he feels the leash of his father again, just waiting to tighten into a noose. There’s a promise he wants to make to her, that it won’t be forever. That this won’t be their lives forever, V and Playboy carved into national security dossiers with ink as red as blood.


End file.
